Update: Court order of dismissal posted below.
The media was all agog over the arrest of 1998 Mississippi Melinda King Sanders. One must forgive them as they tend to go rabid when they think they see a pageant queen fallen from grace. Sanders was arrested on March 2 for credit card fraud. The media had a field day reporting the arrest and posting the mug shot. The arrest generated no small amount of interest on social media as well. However, part of the ordeal ended for Sanders when the charges were dismissed yesterday in Flora Municipal Court. However, as Paul Harvey would say, there is a Rest of the story.
If the reporters had bothered to use this new invention called Google, they might have discovered her husband was arrested for domestic violence on December 23, 2016 and booked into the Rankin County jail. Rankin County deputies arrested him after the couple had an argument that night. It is alleged that he threw a cellphone at her face. A mark was left on her face from the alleged assault. Mr. Sanders goes to court on the domestic violence charge in May.
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| THE mug shot. |
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| Sanders in real life |
The victim of the alleged credit card fraud was her father-in-law. The affidavit for the "fraud" was submitted to the police on February 17 - three days after the hearing in the couple's divorce was postponed. Ms. Sanders told JJ that no one from Flora PD contacted her or notified her that a warrant was issued for her arrest. She said a Flora police investigator showed up with two Hinds County deputies at her place of employment on March 2. The investigator loudly announced she was under arrest for credit card fraud and handcuffed her. It is not known if there were 27 8x10 color glossy photographs with pictures and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one. Melinda said she lost her job as a result of her arrest.
None of this information was reported in the media until yesterday when she gave an interview to WAPT. Modern day reporting is apparently reduced to spoon-feeding and now you now the Rest of the story.
Good day.
Update:
33 comments:
Bloody hell! Did she get her job back?
Flora Police Investigator? Didn't know their force was that big.
I don't know this girl, but how awful for her! Thank you for reporting the full set of facts. You are right that people (many, many right here on this site!!!) Looovvve to see someone fall from grace, until something happens to them or someone they care about. I hope that as much "journalistic" reporting will be dedicated to setting her record straight and that she is re-hired. Maybe this experience will bring her to something even better.
No.... they didn't even put her on unpaid leave. They fired her the very day she was arrested before she was ever even given her day in court.
I can see an apparent plan by the guy to use his father's credit card to have her arrested. This was probably a set up. Apparently this couple was using her father in law's credit card since they apparently couldn't get one probably from bad credit ratings. If this is the fact, it is pretty low on his part. Obviously since the house was in her name, he probably had the worst of the couple's credit problems. Serving her at work was also an act of needless intimidation. I can see her attorney licking his chops to break up this wild story. At one point he stated she was a drug abuser. Then, they referred to them as prescription drugs. In the situation she was in, I am sure she needed medication.
Where did she work?
Also, in MS unless you owned the house prior to marriage, we are a common law state so he would be entitled to half the equity. If she put it in her name only, then he would be entitled unless she was gifted the money. Now if they had been apart for many years that may be different. You attorneys can answer the question.
Understand. Was just pointing out the fact.
She is a babe and deserves justice. Justice may be blind but I ain't.
She owned the house prior to them being married. I had business dealings with the two of them during a time leading up to this. Melinda is a great person with much integrity who never deserved to be subjected to the embarrassment and treatment dealt to her.
You are the Media...fake news..
Mississippi is a title state, however since they were married, he would have a homestead interest in the home. The judge could give him whatever the proof may show in a trial. I doubt he gets much if she owned the house before the marriage.
Fake news??? Hard to fake it with affidavits, mug shots and tax records.
Fake news???? Not when you have affidavits, mug shots, and tax records.
12:47 I think you were trying to refer to "community property state", but Mississippi is NOT such.
Does the father-in-law or his son have a connection to law enforcement?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrE1ZvldiFE
Denzel has some good advice about this kind of activity.
What do you, what does anyone, expect from WAPT? Certainly not journalism.
If Melinda King was black DonnerKay would be all over this story.
@12:47pm and @2:00pm Please do not provide legal advice to any of your loved ones. I don't want to write a brief, but y'all are incorrect.
The charges were dropped because she made restitution to the plaintiff. I'm no lawyer, but have been in enough court cases, both criminal and chancery, to know that continuing to press the charges will only get you more time in a courtroom which may not be worth your time as it's continued for YEARS. The charges being dropped does not mean she was not guilty. The media looks for stories of interest to attract ratings and her story was of interest just by the headline. They don't care about how it looks for the family. However, I suspect the husband fell victim to damsel in distress unless he has a long history of domestic violence. Happens all the time in domestic situations. A mark from a cell phone is hardly worth jail time, but your worst enemy in life will be your future soon to be ex spouse and nothing is off the table to be a thorn in the side of that soon to be ex spouse.
I'm not a lawyer, but why did she have to pay restitution if she wasn't guilty?
At JJ, your crown is your credik!
I haven't approved some comments because its clear friends of both parties are trying to trash the other side.
The main point of this post was to point out that the media was not exactly reporting everything. Let's face it, divorces are messy and there is a reason reporters don't want to go down those rabbit holes. However, the media reported this story and left out some relevant facts that a few minutes on google would have yielded. The fact that the complainant is a family member changes the tenor of the story as does the fact that there is a divorce and a domestic violence charge.
That was the point of the post. Both spouses probably have dirt, skeletons, whatever you want to call it. People who are too close to it want to make sure everyone knows THE TRUTH when the media is involved. There is a court system and the truth will come out one way or another. Is throwing a cellphone and leaving a mark the same thing as beating a wife to a pulp with a rubber mallet? Obviously not but then a father in law filing charges over use of a credit card is not the same thing as someone who places a skimmer on a gas pump and then parties all week on the stolen numbers either.
Hopefully this comment provides some understanding for the post and why some comments are not approved.
Why wasn't her lawyer promoting herstory,she should have been on the Capitol Steps challenging Andy.
Tell a lot by the fact he wants it all...
Kingfish, I see the point you were making and you did a fair and honest reporting job on this.
This appears to be just another case of Municipal and Justice Court Judges signing arrest warrants without really gathering all of the necessary facts. A simple probable cause hearing could have probably cleared the whole matter up. I am cautiously optimistic the new uniform criminal rules allowing for summons in lieu of arrest warrants will help alleviate some of the problems. How hard would it have been to at least let her speak to an investigator before cuffing her. Tragic she will have her mugshot in circulation forever for what seems to be some chancery court gamesmanship.
It would be great if we could manage to give all people the privilege of being "innocent until proven guilty". The media is a predictable player, but no more predictable than the reactions to stories depending on the players involved. I am glad this lady got a chance to get the whole story out there. The truth is, everyone regardless of personal characteristics deserves the same thing.
What does her physical appearance, her father in law, who owned the house or the terms of their estrangement have to do with the fact that she illegally used the credit card?
Oh, Wait! As in the case of Ben Allen, restitution made it all OK, correct?
This is hardly the rest of the story since the details of the alleged credit card fraud were left out.
Just remember, in a Facebook world, this could happen to you too.
@4:34 - Do you REALLY think it is ok for a man to hit his wife in the fact "as long as it doesn't leave too big a mark"????? As for the "credit card fraud", the usage PROBABLY occurred BEFORE they separated and it was PROBABLY with permission granted by the card holder BEFORE HE GOT MAD AT HER for having his baby boy arrested. But after baby boy gets locked up, mama and daddy HAVE to find SOME WAY to get even with the bitch "who did that to baby boy". And, lucky for them, they have that credit card transaction for the new (fill-in-the-blank) they bought "THEM" to hold over her head. Guaranteed....that's how it happened.
@12:37 - I'm not 4:34. Whether I, you or the fence post agrees with 4:34 or not isn't the point of my post. His/her comment was, word for word, "A mark from a cell phone is hardly worth jail time,...".
Please tell me how that translates to "think it is ok for a man to hit his wife in the fact "as long as it doesn't leave too big a mark". 12:37, your error isn't as innocent as only reading into it what you wanted to. No, your use of quotations means you directly and intentionally misquoted the comment. The type of attitude your comment displays is why our society is incapable of having adult conversations to constructively move the needle on difficult issues.
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